Hi,

When you download files from Google Code now (example), in addition to the text version of the SHA1 hash, it includes a QR code of it.

The device that the file was downloaded to is the one that has to hash the file. But, if it can download the file (ie, has access to the webpage), it also has access to the text version of the hash, so the QR code seems completely useless—and more work to decode when the raw text is available. How would reading the hash into a mobile phone allow you to verify the file you download to the computer? Or if you download the file to the phone, how would you use the phone to take a picture of the QR code displayed on the webpage on its own screen?

Does anyone know what the point to the QR code is or how you would use it to verify the downloaded file (I don’t mean QR codes in general, but specifically in this context).